Student informer tells of warning

Student informer tells of warning

JAKARTA (JP): A student who said he was bullied into becoming
an informer suggested on Saturday that the Nov. 13 incident at
the Semanggi cloverleaf was planned by the military.

Wiwid Pratiwo, 21, told the National Commission on Human
Rights that he was warned several hours in advance that security
personnel would open fire on the afternoon of Nov. 13 near the
Atma Jaya University campus, and that he was told to leave the
scene of the impending clash.

Wiwid revealed that he was recruited by "force" as an informer
by a military police soldier from the presidential guard unit who
he knew by the initials "BL".

A student at Trisakti University's air transportation
management school, Wiwid said that he was in the front line of
the student protest when he received a message via a pager
provided by "BL", a second class private.

"The message said those still at Atma Jaya should move out
because from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. there would be a shooting spree,"
Wiwid told a packed media conference at the rights commission's
office in Central Jakarta.

The most serious clashes, which claimed 15 lives and left more
than 400 injured, took place on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 amid student
protests against the Special Session of the People's Consultative
Assembly. Nine students were killed near the Semanggi cloverleaf
in front of the Atma Jaya campus on Nov. 13 and some victims of
the two days of clashes are still in hospital.

The Armed Forces has said an investigation has started into
the shootings, during which -- human rights groups have said --
live bullets were fired. The military and the police have
repeatedly stressed that they only carried blanks and rubber
bullets.

Forensic experts have said fragments of metal bullets have
been found in most of the bodies of the Semanggi tragedy.

Rights groups such as Kontras, the independent Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, have also said that the
incident could have been provoked by instigators.

Last Monday Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono
said "radical groups" infiltrated student rallies, using
buildings along Jl. Sudirman as their base, and provoked the
clashes, particularly the one on the afternoon of Nov. 13.

Threat

Wiwid said he had not attended classes at the university for
several months and claimed that he was first approached by BL as
a friend on Aug. 30 at a bus stop in Tomang, West Jakarta. BL
later presented him with a contract requiring him to help secure
the MPR Special Session.

"I was threatened that if I refused to cooperate, my parents
and sister would be eliminated ... they told me they knew what
grade my sister was in, what my father did for a living and what
days my mother went to the Koran reading group," Wiwid said. He
said his father was a driver at a construction firm.

Wiwid said he was assigned to recruit civilian guards and
monitor universities to gather information on student movements.

Prior to the session, he said that he was once assigned to go
to several towns in Java to recruit civilian guards using four
army military trucks.

"I went to Pandeglang, Banten in West Java, Surakarta,
Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Semarang (Central Java)," Wiwid said.

He was caught by Trisakti University students suspicious of
his activities on Nov. 15. They turned him over to Kontras the
following day.

Wiwid said that he brought about 160 people into the capital,
and with a number of people from North Jakarta, they were taken
to Cijantung in East Jakarta.

Wiwid, however, did not specify the place.

Wiwid also said that he was promised about Rp 100,000
(US$13.25) for each piece of information and that the money would
be transferred into his bank account.

He, however, said that so far he had not received a cent.

Wiwid said he was often taken to BL's dormitory in Tanah
Abang, Central Jakarta, and also "to his office on Jl. Merdeka
Selatan, the palace of the vice president." The position of the
vice president is currently vacant.

Kontras coordinator Munir said Wiwid was one of many who had
been victimized -- partly because they were short of money "as
part of the political terror for military operational purposes."

"There are many civilians who were used to serve intelligence
operations," Munir said, adding that Wiwid and his family were
now seeking protection, and that students were "catching people
like Wiwid" almost daily these days.

"They were one of the most fatal victims apart from students.
They have to be protected because they are facing threats both
from those giving the orders and from the public," he said.

Wiwid said: "I realize that I have betrayed all Indonesian
students, and I offer my deepest apologies, especially to those
who died."

Rights commission member Asmara Nababan said that the
government should set up a permanent agency to implement a
witness protection program. (byg)